Yes rehabilation lol. Saw this ad for an 88 w a blown turboed motor on cl a few months ago. Almost got it, wound up buying a sitdown mower, chipper, fwd mower, and a buncha other stuff. A few weeks ago its back on cl but in a different location, same price, but now comes w a crate shortblock. I luv trubble and trubble loves me, so, I went n got it today. It was meant to be, temps in the 80s, radios jammin 80s, doing 80something on the freeway, and going to pick up a car from the 80s. Drove to gilroy to get the trailer, then drove to his place in salinas. Met the old man and we started BSing and he showed me around his property w all the cool cars he had before we even got to the fiero. He had a lotta cool stuff


that was his dads car






plenty more I didnt take pics of, he has 105 cars, and a few fieros

Anywho, the story goes he bought it off the first guy as a project for him n his grandson, but mom bought the kid a s2000 so he didnt want the fiero anymore. First seller said it was his dads car. The son had a warehouse of fancy cars for dad to drive, 30+ 911s, and dad only would drive the fiero lol. Looks like dad had a turbo kit installed, popped the head gaskets, motor sat wet, cylinders rusted.

Loaded all the parts and the crate motor first


Loaded the rusty engine second


Then loaded up the car w my lil winch and a jetski battery


N here it is in me driveway


Very clean interior


Found a brand new set of rear speakers, and a brand new set of oem speakers in the front


Its got a cupla small damage/chips in the body but is in great shape, no rust. Got 7" wheels all around, konis, ss brake lines, and im sure ill find more stuff. Doors close like theyre brand new, no rattles. Shortblock didnt come w a cam or chain. Gonna take the motors to the machine shop and have the heads rebuilt, shorty checked over, and assembled. Thinkin about the 3.4, nows the time.


Been about 26 years since I had a fiero, always remember as a kid I saw a red gt and was in love. Now I got me one. Happy happy dawg dawg
Shem

Great story! Looking forward to reading about your progress.

quote Originally posted by shemdogg: ...an 88... Got 7" wheels all around

Not 15x6 up front?

I am almost 2 years into the same project. Mine sat for about 15 years. Installed all new fuel system and clutch hydraulics and just drove it around the block for the first time yesterday. Still plenty to do but systematic progress is being made. Looking forward to your progress posts.

[This message has been edited by FormulaGT (edited 04-23-2023).]

It was a very cool day, they guy had a story about every vehicle lol. Yes Patrick it has 7" wheels all around, I like the way the fronts stick out from the fender. Formulagt congrats on the resto. Start a thread!

Went thru the parts haul that came w the car, looks like everythings there. Lotsa stuff I dont recognize because of the turbo kit and the 88 changes. I had 2 84s in my late teens but they were 4 bangers.


nice set of headers w lil baby turbo, VCs and upper intake need lotsa love. Harness looks good


All the stuff thats going to the machine shop tomorrow, want them to hot tank everything too


2 distributors, clutch master, lotsa Sp wires, a coil, and zip lock bags o bolts n nuts back here. Tons of stereo amp wiring and rca

Prepare for tons of dumbarse questions in tech like- what is this, and where does this go lol. Its becoming painfully obvious I know nothing about fieros. My kit car was so bastardized not much is the same. And what was I finished removing lol.

Tried to clean up the oxidization, burned right thru to black primer. All good, gonna glass the few cracks and divots on the car(someone stole the rear wing by ripping it off, tards), and do some glassing on the kit car scoop. Crazy busy w work but ill get it done lil by lil.

Hey whats the paint code for this red? The rpo sticker is kinda faded but I could snap a pic if it helps. Wanna get that ordered asap!

shem

Great post!

Looking forward to seeing you put this back on the road.

Love the pics of the "old man's" cars....what year Rolls is that? What model was it he said was his dad's car.....Chiftan...like 55' or so?

You are an inspirartion dude....do all this stuff while you're still young enough and have the energy, motivation and a cash flow! LOL

HAGO!

The day before you posted this image, a Pontiac wagon of the same vintage ('55?) pulled up momentarily in front of my house. It was in mint condition as well. Rare sight!

Thank you Sage! I dunno what year or model he told me it was, he was throwing so much info at me and I was really focused on the cars. Car drunk for sure. Im hoping he gets on here, I mentioned the forum and he said hes been on here. Hopefully he shows up. So many nice old trucks I didnt get pics of. That tow truck was the fresno school districts truck to tow the busses. One bus got wrecked, n the auto shop teacher put the axles n motor into the tow truck. The pic w the car on the trailer behind my truck, that highway 101 looking thru my lumber rack. 8 acres right off the freeway. Didnt wanna take too many pics of the guy stuff, I was some random dude offa craigslist. He told me he got a lotta bs offers and bs trades lol offered for the car.

Heres how those 7" wheels look on the front, I dig it



Tryin to find info on this, not much around



had some fb work to do on the kit car scoop, got all but one damaged area on the car yesterday


Gonna hafta pull the mirror for this one


Which one is the paint code?

found it
shem

[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 04-24-2023).]

quote Originally posted by shemdogg: Heres how those 7" wheels look on the front, I dig it CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

I guess I like more of the "old school" look... with the rear tires maybe sticking out a bit, and the front tires tucked in more.

I've had aftermarket front wheels/tires on the front of my Formula (mostly for autocross) which stuck out like in the photo above, and I didn't like the way they sprayed dirty water all down the side of the car when it rained. But wet roads may be more of a problem in Vancouver than in San Jose.

quote Originally posted by shemdogg: Tryin to find info on this, not much around

Nothing really to tell. This was the "original" side scoop that was offered by Holley back in the late 80s / early 90s by Coltec industries. They stopped making them at some point in the mid 90s, and the Fiero Store started to make reproduction ones with the name FIERO on it instead of Holley.

It basically screws in, and replaces the normal side vent. The idea is that this helps "catch" the air and improves the air intake like RAM-AIR. Not sure it makes much difference honestly... but I had one back in the day. I paid $20 bucks for one new from the Fiero Store back in the day, and then sold it for $120 bucks a couple of years later on eBay when I needed to make the rent payment in the late 90s... haha...

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: I paid $20 bucks for one new from the Fiero Store back in the day, and then sold it for $120 bucks a couple of years later on eBay...

That was a much better investment than your Porsche!

That intercooler setup is pretty slick. Anyone have any more info on it...Pictures of how it is hooked up on the compressor side? Also how it was plumbed...to a front or side radiator?

quote Originally posted by Patrick: That was a much better investment than your Porsche!

Haha, well... having a child does strange things to you. I wasn't in debt or anything, but I felt like now (at the time), that my wife was pregnant, I needed to make sure I wasn't just "not in debt" but that I had savings and no liabilities. So I pretty much pivoted. Like I said, I had 9 cars and a golf cart. I unloaded most of my cars. My wife and I both drove brand new convertibles (Solstice and New Beetle), and we traded those in for fully paid for SUVs, (Ford Explorer and Jeep Patriot). Only thing I kept was my Fiero (which was my first car), our VW Bus, and my grandfather's Crown Victoria.

I also sold off about 2/3rds of my video games, computers, and anything else that I absolutely just didn't need. I put half of it into savings, and the other half I put into a 529 when she was born (In the U.S., a 529 is a tax-free college savings account).

But yeah, I really, really loved that Porsche 944... I was so sad to give it up. The guy who bought it said it was like the best Porsche he'd ever owned. Drove it all the way back up to Ohio from the airport in Fort Lauderdale.

Not a porsche fan at all! Unless its a 930 or 944- slantnose all the way lol

Matt is that your car in the mag?!

Gonna go w the kit car motor I recently pulled(thanks everybody), and cleared the way for the cherry picker to make its way to the front driveway. Heres the old motor covered in overspray

I did cut the harness but have the connectors and left enuf meat to connect easily. Or I could use the harness for the 88 motor, but I dunno if turbo stuffs wired into that one. The ecu has to be different to run that turbo or at least have a different prom, I have the old ecu for the kit car motor. Then I had to think about what to do for an exhaust system, it aint gonna pass visual w that turbo there for sure. Remembered I saved whats left of the kit car exhaust, I think its cut and pastable-newer cat!


Heres the engine bay, you can see where the rusty coolant blasted out the head and hit the firewall


Tried to put the kit car wheels on, didnt fit. Look at these weights lol


I see some red springs in there, everythings barely rusty


Missed a damaged spot, made a dam from painters tape, then held the fb mat down over the curve w aluminium foil tape


Rest of the cars spots are already skim coated


Waiting to hear back from the paint company but ordered a full gasket kit, flywheel, bolts, n clutch this mornin. Soon as those are here ill start cleaning up the motor and get it in. Works comin in hot but ill make time. Sometime

When I feel like procrastinating on the kit car, I go work on the fiero
shem

shem i think this is your car in the magazine. i think some of the custom parts have been replaced along the way but i believe its the same car.

I dunno they make no mention of the"miller-woods" name that I have on mine. Mine has different seats, boost gauge, stock wheels, and the side air scoop. The turbo and exhaust system look exactly the same, tho mine has no intercooler. Went n snapped a pic of the underside to see if there was air tubing there

whut the hell is up w that brake line, somebody painted jack up spots in orange


Heres the turbo gauge on mine, mag shows a blower boost gauge


Thats the entire exhaust system I have minus the ecm and the harness

Big ol beefy injectors

Ordered paint n clear today, enuf to shoot the whole car. Bodywerks 99% done. Hoping to paint next week but the rains coming back dag nab it

shem

Looks like the standard manual transmission miller-woods turbo kit. Doesn't look like the one in the magazine article IMO. Is he turbo in good shape? That's gonna be your priciest piece.

Dunno much about turbos. The turbine spins free and theres no play in the shaft, thats the extent of my turbo knowledge. Oh and itll need more gas too lol.

Attacking this resto w the agility of a retarded cat, im finally making some progress. Hit the intake n valve covers from the 88 motor w the intent of putting em on the 86 motor thats going in the car. Went to order the gaskets, nobody has em in stock, then my sense of cheapness kicked in when I saw the price. Almost as much as a full engine gasket kit. Gonna leave the old stuff on, dont plan on using this motor much after passing smog. Then about 7am I fired up the powerwasher and blasted all the crud and fb dust off the motor.


Went at it today after work, found this underneath

AC line pinched by the cradle

Rolled the cherry picker w the 86 motor out front and jacked up the car. Pulled the wheels and had a hell of a time getting the strut bolts out. The anti seize had seized and the pass side bolts were practically rusted to the strut. Hit it w some tri-flow and a breaker bar w a 4' piece of pipe, and it would barely turn. Crazy hard to turn even w the 4' extension. Kept at it, it got loose enuf to spin w the impact while I beat on it w a hammer from the other side. Then used a punch to get em the rest of the way out. That was a fight! Everything else went quickly except for the front cradle bolts, but got em out


Heres some pics of the driveway! YAY!





Heres the cradle on the same ratty ass jetski cart that failed me on my last engine swap. It survived this time and did the job! Didnt even need to break out the skateboard like last time lol


N here it is powerwershed w some udder parts I think ill need

Let it dry, then lotsa rattle can love

Gonna have a field day trying to find all the nuts n bolts to reassemble this biotch. Lotsa unmarked baggies of bolts. Yay fun

Clutch kit and flywheel showed today, bolts should be here manana. Paints comin tuesday, paid extra for the "glamour clear" whatever that is, gotta get this motor in foist. Goal is to get this all done before the 8th, but works comin in like crazy, and the rains threatening a comeback. Need to get this outta the way so I can get the kit car out to pull the motor on that. I need more space ace!

shem

Had a yuuge job saturday, was wiped out yesterday, back at it today. Flywheel bolts were coming today, so before work i installed the 88 harness on the motor. Working my way down from one end and plugging in the newer harness as I went, I found lotsa differences. Oil pressure sender, alternator, Ac compressor, and a few other things.

laid down some primer and paint on the trans and the upper intake

Pos jetski cart took a poop, added some 2x4s and moved the caster outwards, It still broke. The casters are junk, wound up using the floor jack for support on one side and pulled it thru w a rope.


And its in w the cradle and suspension bolted up


Gonna rain tonite and the next few days. Moved some work around to free time at the end of the week.

shem

So much for the thunderstorms, rained a lil overnight and some drizzle in the mornin. Was semi dry when I got home from work so- fiero time! Started out wrapping up the electrical end, put in the battery and plugged in the c500 and 203. Ran the wires into the cabin for the ecm and obd port. Installed my old ecm and noticed the turbo ecm has a custom prom and a knock sensor module


Turned on the key and the car lit up. It was nice to see, started to see what works n what doesnt. Everything works but the turn signals dont light up on the dash, radio isnt connected, no fuel pump, and the starter wont work. Remembered its the purple wire, hit the key and saw no power on the meter. Then I remembered the clutch has to be pushed in lol. Starter works but wont engage the motor. Checked the fuses and found this lol


Bled the clutch about 6 times to get the crud out. Fluid was black, jacked it up and tried to loosen the brake bleeders on the rear calipers. Rusted up, got one free but the other needs more soak time. Hit the fronts w oil. Hot wired the fuel pump, nothing coming out the lines. Had about a half gallon of gas so I put it in. Ran the pump and it primed and started pissing out some nasty stinky rancid ass old gas. Let it pump out. Pulled the started shim, same thing no engagement from the bendix. Hit it one more time for shits n giggles and it caught. Sounded terrible but it turned over and continues too. Prolly stuck from sitting unused gonna put the shim back in next round. No tach movement during cranking, so I have no spork. Installed the shift cables, theyre kinda ruff. Hopefully I can get it running and the brakes bled next round

shem

Got the brakes bled and installed new bleeders. Old ones were rusted shut, had to break out the torch. Brakes are solid. Dropped the back end of the cradle to get the dogbone bolt out, had it in the wrong way lol. Reinstalled the starter shim and that motor/tranny divider plate I always forget. Starter sounds smooth and cranks the motor great. Installed the fuel lines and put in a few gallons of gas. Swapped the icm and the car fired right up. Not running good yet, no vacuum lines hooked up. Finish the vaccum lines and the cooling system and all done w the motor end.

shem

Nice progress, you are cranking this out

Thanks man I am tryin. Shemdizzle workin in the drizzle. Its off n on lol, should have some good weather this weekend to paint. Got the vacuum lines connected and that big ol coolant tube that runs behind the motor gave me lotsa grief. Good vocabulary builder though lol. Made a mounting plate for the icm, tach filter, and coil. Pulled out the ol kit car exhaust, didnt fit. Made a 2/3 cut by the muff and bent it back. Ripped off the other side of the exhaust then jacked up the muff while I bolted the downpipe, then rigged the ends to the cradle. Started it up and it purrs like a kitten, no bouncy idle, no noises, just perfect. Sounds nice and quiet too. But it only runs for a few seconds then sputters out. Im thinkin fuel but a code 42 popped up. After I took the dash apart cuz the cel worked intermittently. Reseated the bulbs and bent the tabs back on the sockets, most of em came back to life. Tried to start the car w clutch in and in 1st gear, car crept forward. Gonna bleed the clutch again tomorrow, there is a brand new clutch master thats in the trunk. Looks like its been in there awhile too.

Black and tan brake fluid


Ratty exhaust marking its spot


Rats nests under the headlights


Headlights work!

Driver side one gonna need some gearssssssssss soon

Need a rad cap, a coolant hose, and a heater hose connection and thats ready for fillin. Gonna do an oil change, looks like a lil water got in while it was sitting. Figure out the clutch and running issue and this things off to the smog station

And tires, fronts are new(still have the stripes), rears are dry rotted crazy bad
shem

Engine giving me some grief now, runs like crapola. Burned thru a buncha tests from the service manual, cant find it. Somethin simples not right lol. Peep it out in tech if you got any idears, im at a loss boss. Switched gearssss to bodywerk. Paint finally showed up, so did the rain again. Looks like I ordered acrylic enamel 2 stage lol. Pulled the ds door panel to pull the mirror to repair the damge, found this

Looks like the mirror got hit and snapped the door panel
Someone tried to booger it back together with what looks like shoe goo

Prolly why the door panel screws were kinda loose


ez peasy

Finding lotsa little peeling in hard to get areas. Thought Ill just raise the headlights, easy. That exact moment both headlight motors took a sh!t, no joke, Gearsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Not my first rodeo, made some custom tools


Got a buncha areas primered and masked


Forecast shows clouds all week so I should be able to paint.

shem

[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 05-06-2023).]

Weather is just not coperating, keep finding more n more chips n spider cracks. Saw mosta the cracks go into the black bumper, added cyanoacrilate glue and smeared it into the cracks w a bondo spreader.


Buffed n scuffed


Heres the kit im using, w a special note from samuel jackson


Drizzle till about 2pm, then a bit of sun so I went for it. Fortune favors the bold, just not today



Bumpers showed a buncha cracks I missed, oxidation on the hood n decklid were showing thru the paint. More wet sanding and primer ensued.


By the time I was ready to shoot more red, the wind picked up bigtime so I held off.

shem

Today was a great day for painting, not a cloud in the sky. Windy af though. Spent half the day sanding and filling and finding more chipped areas. Lots more primer but lotsa tree debris was falling on the car. Went n grabbed my camping ez up and started shooting red with only a few oz remaining


Used it all up and it showed a few scratches in the hood, no turning back now
Loaded up some clear and went for it



Came out pretty damn good ill say, only one mini sag not noticeable by anyone else but me. I thought the clearcoat would amplify the scratches, it completely hid pretty much all of em! Lotsa folks amazed, getting a lot of wow is that a fiero lol. Its just another car until is all shiny and purdy like, then folks take notice and comment. Give it a cupla days to dry good, then hit it w some 3k n buff. Fiero is not an easy car to paint, but I think it got it down pretty good.

My trusty jankomaster 500 painting rig lol

Does good, gotta let it recharge a wee bit every 10 mins. Only running 1 compressor it maintains about 80lbs in both tanks. Both compressors pop the breaker

Got a yuge box of parts today, was excited till I opened it


Onto the motor bug n cooling system!

shem

[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 05-09-2023).]

Damn that looks incredible. What gun do you use? I gotta get me a bigger compressor or get an old tank and T it into my 6 gal compressor. I have a harbor freight 10x10' tent shed thing I plan to use to paint the panels off the car. Except the roof panel, I will leave that on the car and shoot it outside.

Thanks man yeah it came out really really good. Was takin the garbage out this morning and walked by the car and a big ol smile broke out lol. I got some $99 devilbiss 2 gun kit from eastwood years ago. Has a medium size gun and a touch up gun and it came w a case. The one nail gun compressor cant keep the volume and pressure high enough for me to get too much paint out, pretty sure thats why I dont get drips. Also I do a very light coat first, then a heavier fill coat second and third if needed. Got 2 coats of clear on the car.

shem

I randomly remembered someone messages me about fiero parts for sale about 5 years ago when I joined up here. I sent an email and the guy responded in a few days. He had what I needed for the car, was going to meet him tomorrow. This mornings estimate rescheduled so I hit the guy up and he had time this morning. Drove out to oakland and met him at his shop. Got a wing and ds decklid cover, then spotted an oem exhaust. Got that too. Tons of parts and engines. Buncha fieros outside waiting for love

Super cool cat, we were chatting for ages it seemed. He has a ca legal l67 swapped 88, and one nice one he used to race inside the shop. Rest was parts n engines. He offered me all the cars outside and all the parts for 10k, tempting but I dont have the space. Turns out he owns the property w all the shops and several need work. I offered my help, and hopefully can make a deal. Will work for fiero parts n cars! lol

Heres the parts I got today

Had enuf paint for 1 coat on the spoiler lol
But drilled out the missing holes and mounted it

The inner parts of the stands hit the raised area of the decklid, so ill hafta grind that area out
Dream car almost complete!

shem

[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 05-12-2023).]

Please take some vids when you get it going, in this era of youtube it is severely lacking Fiero content! Looking good!

I would grab those tail lights from the Oakland guy if they are in one piece.

Im no youtuber, and good call on the taillights. Im making a list o stuffs I need and just sent him an email. Fantasizing about acquiring the horde he has lol.

Got the motor running pretty good, no leaks. Probably pulled that intake manifold off about 20 times. Need a stock ecm, the one it has now was for the turbo so im guessing it has a different fuel map. Motor runs great but shudders and has a hunting idle. Now the clutch is giving me guff. Ordered the extendable banjo from rodney, got impatient and made my own yesterday. Now the slave is leaking lol. Ordered a dual seal kit from rodney also and a new slave. Ill rebuild my current one w the dual seal kit. Looking for wheels n tires, back tires are really really bad. Cracks everywhere in every which direction, dont even wanna go around the block on those. Hit up dmv and got the transfer started, this things been non-opped since 2008. Judging by the small amount of rust, its been parked by the coast. Now its down by the bay, where the watermelons groooooow.......

Got more red paint coming and some grey too. Going w the tommy two tone on the ground effects. Weathers getting good but neighbors tree is just dumping tons of friggin leaves everywhere. Got me plotting on a tree lol.

Waiting on parts...........................

neglected kit car looking at me like wtf doo?!

shem

Clutch giving me tons of trouble but I got it and drove the car today finally. Felt damn good too. Seeing that odometer turn for the first time since around 08. Runs and drives great, very impressed. Stared at it in the driveway for a bit while I figure out whats next. Trunk latch button not working. PO gave me a trunk key to open it up. Its an 18" flathead screwdriver lol. Had power at the switch, had switched power to the solenoid, rigged up a ground wire, boom I got trunkage. I thought the wires were ripped out since the ends hanging loose from the decklid bottom. Finally some love. The switch below was wired to the rad fan, pulled all that out and was left w a big hole. What to do?


wiggle them shemdawg fingers and 5 mins later

Bwah! leftovers from the kit car dash

Picked out some nice wheels and made sure they fit 18x8/9 +35
Few other goodies coming
then a lil car audio upgrade, this thing had a system in in and they left all the wiring.
decisions decisions

shem

All quiet on the shemdogg front. Drove the car around quite a bit, runs great. Buddy came thru w his truck so I could paint the wheels and touch up a few spots

Came out so good. Tonsa kudos from it being in the driveway. Very impressed w the paint, some cheap acrylic enamel- but its dried to a rock hard candy shell.

Gonna cost me at least $200 for some used tires, so I put the kitcar back wheels on the fiero cuz the tires are good. Damn thing looks like one of those yosemite sam mud flaps sayin back off!

Looks friggin terrible lmao. Being in the hood I got quite a few nods lol.

Oneutha mods I wanted to make were to move the rear wing back, so I did

Luv it!

I always hated, even as a wee lad, the way the front ground effect angled up on the side. So, I dun did sumthin.
Behold mateys, the bearded clam! Whoops right pic, wrong build thread. Behold the bearded fiero!

A wise lad he is, a mage of 35 years.
Several layers of fb mat/ boogers, and a tad of brawndo

Luv it, really luv it. So does everyone whose seent it so far.

Grey paint is here for the tommy two-tone, but the red is mia. "damaged during shipment" the update said, so still waiting on red.
Wheels showed up today. I was home so delivery dude didnt throw the boxes down. The set of wheels/tires I got for the kitcar will have the tires swapped onto these.
next set of pics will be schweet!

shem

Started on the car about 7am, fillin n sandin the front spoiler. Got the tires swapped over, did a round of fb on the inside of the spoiler, and spent all day finding and filling the tiniest of imperfections. 3 home depot trips, and 2 cans of primer, it was about 5pm I was outta steam but it was ready to shoot. So shoot it I did

Went with a single stage acrylic urethane in metallic anthracite grey pearl. Looked too dark on the color swatch on the can, looked crazy dark pretty much black when I was shooting it. I was pissed af lol, i wanted a dark grey but not THAT dark. Anyways its grown on me and laid down really nice. Shooting under the back bumper sucks. carefully peeled off the masking, and completed my vision





Thank you thank you. Thank you very much. Thats a wrap!


for now...............

shem

This is awesome!

Great work, thank you for all the photos!

Beautiful